More than 2,500 people visited the Coastlands Aquatic Centre over the weekend, with the hydroslide now fully operational.

Alison Law, Aquatic Facilities Manager, says a problem with the automated system that controls water quality in the hydroslide, including chlorine levels, has been fixed.

“We had the supplier on site last week and, after consulting with the manufacturer, he has sorted the matter out. The hydroslide is now working as it should.”

Ms Law says some people misunderstood reports and thought chlorine levels in the pools were too high.

“This is certainly not the case. In fact visitors to the Aquatic Centre will notice our pools are not heavily chlorinated. All water goes through a UV machine which helps treat it and means we use less chlorine than pools that don’t have this kind of technology in place. Plus, the quality of the water is constantly monitored by a sophisticated computer system.”

There have been some comments about the air temperature inside the centre being too high.

“A temperature of 28 degrees is fairly standard for pool facilities like this because the inside environment needs to be warm enough to prevent pool users getting cold,” Ms Law says.

“However, while heat from the sun coming through our translucent roof is great for reducing energy costs, on some days it means the facility can be a bit hotter than we’d like it to be.

“We have high level windows at each end of the pool which are designed to open once the air gets too hot, plus an extra exhaust fan that automatically comes on when the windows open to suck out excess heat. However, due to delays caused by the Mainzeal collapse, this system isn’t operational yet. We expect it to be up and running by mid to late September.

“It’s good to have opened the Aquatic Centre for the community to use, but we still need to fine-tune some of our systems like this one. Kāpiti residents seem to be really embracing all the new facility has to offer and we are continuing to get lots of positive feedback.”